Automatic cage-loader.



No. 774,047. PATBNTED NOV. l, 1904. W. H. DAVTS L J. M. WOOD.

AUTOMATIC CAGE LOADER.

APPLICATION FILED APB.. 18. 1904.

4 PATENTED NOV. l, 19045.4 W. H. DAVIS &'J. M. WOOD.

AUTOMATIC CAGE LOADER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1904.

NO MODEL.

5111112111'01'5 ULS @Hom/1mg UNITED STATES Patented November 1, 1904.

PATENT OEETgcE.

WILLIAM H. DAVIS AND JOSEPH M. WOOD, OF CAMBRIDGE, OHIO.

AUTOIVIATIC CAGE-LOADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,047, dated November1, 1904.

Appiicppion fiipd April 18, 1904.

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that we, VILLIAM H. DAVIS and JOSEPH M. IVOOD, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Cambridge, in the county of Guernsey andState of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Cage-Loaders; and we do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to means for automatically' loading the shaftcages or elevators of coal or other mines with coal or ore to be carriedto the surface, and particularly to means for automatically displacingempty cars from the cage and running loaded cars thereon; and one objectof the invention is to provide automatic'mechanism of this characterwhich will be operated by the cage itself on its descent to release aloaded car and cause the same to run by gravity thereon and push o thecar previously carried tothe surface and unloaded or a car loaded withsupplies brought from the surface for use in the mine, thereby doingaway with hand labor or extra power appliances.

Another object of the invention is to provide effective means forlocking and releasing` the cars and for preventing' a loaded car fromrunning onto the cage when the car upon the cage is to be retransportedto the surface for lowering supplies from the surface into the mine.

Vith these and other objects in view the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts,as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation showing thenormal positions of the parts, the cage being represented as nearing'thelimit of its descent and bearing an empty car which has been unloaded atthe surface. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the movable track-sectiontilted to form an inclined plane and the loaded car thereon about to runupon the cage. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the cage and tilting.track-sec- Serial No. 203,781. (No model.)

tion. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are transverse sections taken through thetilting track-section on the lines 4 4, 5 5, and 6 6 of Fig. 1.

1 and 2 represent the terminal portions of the mine-car trackwayadjacent to the shaft; 3, a movabletrack-section or platform carryingrails 4, which are adapted to aline with the rails of the terminalportion 2, and 5 a cage or elevator which is here conventionally shownand which carries track-rails 6. The hoisting mechanism of the cage hasbeen omitted as unnecessary to the disclosure.

The movableA track-section or platform 3 is provided with bearings7 toturn upon a shaft or axle 8 and is properly balanced to normally assumea horizontal position, so that its rails 4f will aline with the rails ofthe track-terminal 2 and allow said cars to pass from said terminal 2onto the said movable track-section or platform 3.

In the drawings we have shown a loaded car 9 arranged in position uponthe platform 4: to pass from the same onto the cage 5 when the latterreaches its lower position. This car 9 is held from movement yby astop-bar l0, arranged to slide vertically in a slot 1l in the platform 3and to engage one of the forward wheels of the car, thus holding thelatter from forward movement. The bar 10 is jointed at its lower end tothe long arm of aVstop-actuating lever 12, whi ch is pivoted at 13 to asuitable supporting block or bracket 14 and has its shorter arm movablyconnected by a link l5 to the platform 3. The construction andarrangement of these parts is such that when the platform 8 is in ahorizontal position the stop-arm 10 will beprojected upwardly to thelimit of its movement; but when the platform 3 is tilted to the positionshown in Fig. 2 the long arm of the lever l2 will be shifted through thechanging position of the link 15 to pull the stop-arm 10 downward andout of the path of the wheel of the car 9, thus allowing the latter torundown the inclined plane formed by the platform 3 onto the rails ofthe cage 5. The cage 5 in its descent is adapted to engage projections16 on the adjoined end of the platform 3 and to tilt the latter downwardto the position shown in Fig. 2. In the drawings we have represented thecage as bearing a car 17, which has been hoisted to the surface for thedischarge of its contents and. has been brought down into the mine againfor reloading. W' hen the cage reaches the limit of its downwardmovement, this car 17 is held stationary by means of a stop-bar 18,which is adapted to project upwardly through an opening 19 in theplatform of the cage and to engage one of the axles of said car. Thestop 18 moves vertically in a guide block or bracket 20 and is jointedat its lower end to one arm of a stop-actuatinglcver 21, pivoted at 22to asuitable block or support23 and connected at the end of its oppositearm to a stop 24, adapted to be projected upwardly through a slot 25 inthe tilting track-section or platform 3. Then the stop 18 is in itsnormal position, the stop 24 lies wholly beneath the platform 3; butwhen the stop 18 is depressed by the tilting of the lever 21 the stop2/1 is projected upwardly to lie in a position in advance of theposition normally7 occupied by the rear axle of the car 9.

A trip-lever 26 is pivotally connected, as at 27, to the platform 3 andhas a horizontal arm 28 and a trip-arm 29. The arm 28 is provided at itsrear end with a fork 30 to engage a pin 31 on the stop-bar 24, while thearm 29 normally lies in an inclined position and above the said platform3 and when depressed by a wheel of the car as the latter moves down theinclined plane, formed by the platform, lies in a recess on the upperside of one of the rails 4i at its lower outer end to permit the passageof the said car-wheel over said rail and said arm 29. rl`he outer orforward end of the trip-arm 29 is provided with a depending hook 32,which when the arm falls down projects beneath the platform and isadapted to be engaged by a catch 32/, consisting of a bar or platerigidly mounted upon a pivot-bolt 33 and having an actuating-handle 34,by means of which it may be swung into and out of engagement with thehook.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows the normal position of the parts when thecar 9 is on the platform and held from movement by the stop-arm 10 andthe cage 5 is nearing the limit of its downward movement. The end of thecage 5 engages the projection 16 just before coming to a stop and as itreaches its final movement tilts the platform 3 to an inclined position.At this moment the stop 18 moves up through the slot 19 in the cage andengages the rear axle of the empty car 17 and holds it from movement.The downward tilting of the platform 3 at this juncture causes the lever12 to be shifted to the position shown in Fig. 2,whereby the arm 10 ismoved downward out of the path of the car-wheel,- and the latter beginsto roll down the platform 3 and as it continues to move depresses thetrip-arm 29, thus tilting the arm 28 of the lever 26 upwardly, wherebythe fork 30 is caused to engage the pin 31 and to project l the stop 24upwardly and at the same time to tilt the lever 21 to depress the stop18, thus 5` leaving the car 17 free to move from the cage l, 5. The car9 thereupon passes from the platform 3 onto the cage 5 and pushes thecar 17 from the cage to the track-terminal 1. When the car 9 passes offthe platform 3, the latter l tilts back to its normal horizontalposition, again projecting the stop 1() and drop-arm 29 upwardly andalso projecting the stop 18 up through the slot 19 of the cage 5 to holdthe car 9 thereon from movement. The cage may then be elevated tosurface to discharge the contents of car 9, and when the same is lowlered this car in turn is pushed off the cage by form 3, as will bereadily understood.

When the car 17 on the cage is to be raised and lowered a number oftimes for transporting supplies for the mine from the surface, it is ofcourse necessary to prevent the loaded car on the platform 3, waitingits turn to be elevated, from running off said platform onto the cagewhen the platform is tilted by the cage on the latter reaching thebottom of the shaft. This may be accomplished by manually depressing thetrip-arm 29 and bringing the catch 32 into engagement with the hook 32.This will project the stop 2-1 upwardly to lie in the path of the rearaxle of the car on the platform 3, which will prevent the car frompassing 0H the platform, although the stop-arm 10 will be lowered whenthe platform is tilted by the cage.

From the foregoing' description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the inventionwill be readily understood without requiring a more extendedexplanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the principle orsacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. 'In an apparatus for loading mine cages or elevators, the combinationof a trackway, a cage, a tilting track-section between one portion ofthe track-rail and the cage, means for holding the car on said tracksection against movement, means whereby the tracksection will be tiltedwhen the cage descends, and means for releasing the car on the platformto allow the same to travel down the inclined plane formed by the tiltedplatform and onto the cage, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for loading mine cages or elevators, the combinationof a trackway, a cage, a tilting track-section between one portion ofthe trackway and the base of the shaft in which the cage descends, saidtracksection having a portion adapted to be engaged by the cage to tiltit as the cage reaches the following loaded car passed from the plat-IOO IIO

the limit of its downward movement, a stop device for holdinga caragainst movement on the loaded platform, said stop device beingautomatically retracted when the track-section is tilted, and a secondstop device adapted to be thrown into action to prevent the car frompassing' from the tilted platform onto the lower cager 3. In anapparatus for loading mine cars or elevators, the combination of atrackway, a cage, tilting track-section disposed between one portion ofthe trackway, and the base of the shaft in which the cage descends, stopdevices for respectively holding` the cars on the cage and platformagainst movement, means for automatically retracting the stop device onthe platform when the latter is tilted and a trip device adapted to beoperated by the car traveling down the tilted platform to retract thestop device holding the car on the cage, substantially as described.

4. In an apparatus for loading mine cages or elevators, the combinationof a tracliway, a cage, a tilting' platform between one portion of thetraclrway and the base of the shaft in which the cage descends, saidplatform having a portion adapted to be engaged by the cage and eect thetilting thereof, stop devices to engage the cars of the cage andplatform to hold the same from movement, means for automaticallyreti-acting the stop device of the platform when the latter is tilted, alever connected to the stop device of the cage, a third stop device, anda lever having a trip member adapted to be operated by the car toretract the stop device of the cage and adapted to be manually adjustedto project the third stop device to prevent movement of the car on thetilted platform when the first-named stop device thereof is retracted,substantially as described.

5. In an apparatus for loading mine cages or elevators, the combinationof a trackway, a cage, a tilting platform between one portion of thetrackway and the base of the shaft in which the cage descends, saidplatform having a portion to be engaged by the cage to tilt it when thecage reaches the limit of its downward movement, a stop device forengaging a car on the platform to hold the car from movement, a pivotedlever connected to said stop device and to the platform to automaticallyretract said stop device when the platform is tilted, a second stopdevice adapted to be projected into the path of the car and hold thesame from movement when the platform is tilted, a third stop device tohold a car from movement on the cage, a lever connecting the said secondand third stop device, and the triplever connected to the second stopdevice and adapted to be operated by the car to retract the said thirdstop device and to be manually adjusted to project the stop device toarrest the movement of the car on the tilting platform when thefirst-named stop device thereof is retracted.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. DAVIS. JOSEPH M. WOOD. Witnesses:

GEO. D. DUGAN, RICHARD MINTo.

